Categories: Astronomy

No More Big Rip, Pillars of Creation by JWST, Biggest Gamma-Ray Burst Ever

The Pillars of Creation revealed by JWST. It seems like Big Rip isn’t happening after all. Black holes twisting spacetime into knots. Jets that seem to be going faster than the speed of light.

If you prefer to sit back, relax and get all the most important space news of the week, we’ve got you covered! Great new images, new discoveries in astronomy, determining the future of the Universe and more in the latest episode of Space Bites.

Pillars of Creation by Webb

It’s time to update your computer’s desktop wallpaper. We’ve finally got Webb’s version of the Pillars of Creation, made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope, which released images in 1995. Because JWST is an infrared telescope, it can peer through gas and dust, obscuring all the newly forming stars. Intense radiation from all the new stars is blasting away at the pillars, wearing them down and revealing the young stars. It’s a beautiful picture and scientifically fascinating.

More about JWST’s best image so far.

The Big Rip Averted

Astronomers use Type 1a supernovae to measure distances in the Universe. They always detonate with the same amount of energy, so it’s possible to calculate how far away they are. A new catalog of Type 1a supernovae has been completed called Pantheon+, which contains over 1,500 Type 1a supernovae. From this, astronomers have been able to accurately measure the ratios of dark matter and dark energy at different periods in the Universe.

More about dark energy and the death of the Universe.

Black Holes Spacetime Knots

In 2020, astronomers detected the gravitational waves from the collision between two black holes. One had more than 40 times the mass of the Sun and was rotating as quickly as the laws of physics allow. As the two black holes were about to collide, they tangled up spacetime in the region. Astronomers could measure this in the shape of the gravitational wave signal detected by LIGO. This helped to confirm one of Einstein’s predictions about relativity in one of the most extreme environments in the Universe.

More about black holes merger.

Most Powerful Gamma Ray Burst Ever Recorded

Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, shining briefly with more radiation than the rest of their galaxy. It’s believed they’re caused by the collapse of the most massive stars in the Universe. On October 12th, astronomers detected a GRB that defied comprehension, the most powerful ever seen. Even though the explosion happened 2.4 billion light-years away, spacecraft detectors were overwhelmed, and the radiation ionized the Earth’s atmosphere, disrupting long-range communications.

More about the record-breaking gamma-ray burst.

2017 Kilonova Aftermath

One of the most important astronomical discoveries in the last decade was the detection of a kilonova, the collision of two neutron stars. This was special because astronomers detected both the gravitational waves from the impact and the bright flash of radiation. Years after the kilonova was first seen, astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to study the wreckage. One fascinating discovery is that the region has developed giant jets blasting radiation into space which appear to be going faster than the speed of light (but it’s just an illusion).

More about ‘faster than light’ jets.

A Warning Sign for Supernovae

It’s believed that red supergiant stars will fade before they detonate as supernovae. This is because they shed material in the final years of their lives, which obscures our view, making it look like they’re dimming. This is why astronomers were so excited when Betelgeuse dimmed a few years ago. It appears that Betelgeuse didn’t dim fast enough. A new theory suggests that red supergiants will hurl off 10% of their mass in the last year of their life, dimming by a factor of 100. When Betelgeuse disappears from the night sky, that might mean it’s about to explode.

More about predicting star explosions.

Don’t Miss Out On Space News

If you want to get a curated selection of the most important space and astronomy news every week, subscribe to our Weekly Email Newsletter and get magazine-size ad-free news directly from Fraser Cain.

If you prefer the news to be videoed at you, check out our Space Bites playlist on our YouTube channel.

Anton Pozdnyakov

Recent Posts

Lunar Night Permanently Ends the Odysseus Mission

On February 15th, Intuitive Machines (IM) launched its first Nova-C class spacecraft from Kennedy Space…

2 hours ago

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how…

4 hours ago

This Supernova Lit Up the Sky in 1181. Here’s What it Looks Like Now

Historical astronomical records from China and Japan recorded a supernova explosion in the year 1181.…

7 hours ago

Hubble Sees a Star About to Ignite

This is an image of the FS Tau multi-star system taken by the Hubble Space…

7 hours ago

This Black Hole is a Total Underachiever

Anyone can be an underachiever, even if you're an astronomical singularity weighing over four billion…

8 hours ago

Someone Just Found SOHO's 5,000th Comet

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was designed to examine the Sun, but as a…

9 hours ago